Legendary South Florida broadcaster Ike Seamans dead at 80

Longtime South Florida TV broadcaster Ike Seamans died Wednesday at the age of 80. (Bob Mayer Facebook / Courtesy)

Legendary South Florida broadcaster Ike Seamans died Wednesday after a long battle with prostate cancer. Seamans, who spent four decades in broadcasting and retired from WTVJ-Ch. 6 in 2007, was 80.

During a morning broadcast Thursday, the station described him “as a man that set a standard for all of us to follow.” On Twitter, Hank Tester, a longtime South Florida TV investigator, called Seamans “one of a kind. He blazed his own trail every day.”

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Bob Mayer, who worked at WTVJ for four decades before retiring in 2010, also shared the news of Seamans’ passing with followers on Facebook.

“Ike put up an almost super-human fight against cancer over the last two years,” Mayer wrote, noting that the cause of death was pulmonary failure. “The Seamans family will announce plans for a Celebration of Life in the near future. In the meantime our prayers are with them.”

Javi Morgado, who worked as an assignment manager at WTVJ, remembered Seamans on Facebook “as an exemplary journalist with a career that spanned more than four decades.” Morgado who is now an executive producer of CNN’s “News Day,’’ added that “he truly had a gift for storytelling, letting the character be the focal point, and a passion for holding elected officials accountable. Ike made us all better and always challenged us to be our best every day.”

Seamans was a drama major and graduate of West Virginia University. He was in the US Army in the 1970s during Vietnam and then worked as a TV reporter in Miami for WTVJ.

Seamans went on to become an international correspondent for NBC News in the late 1970s and “reported from more than 100 countries,’’ he told Lifestyle magazine. He returned to NBC in Miami before retiring in 2007.

“Ike did not show up in the morning and go to the assignment desk for instructions on what story to cover,” Mayer recalled of his friend. “He had a unique relationship with the desk in that he alone was allowed to cover those stories he deemed significant. And he was given the time to investigate. His 'Rolodex' was huge and he could get virtually anyone on the phone in a hurry!”

Mary Seamans told The Miami Herald that her husband “loved being on air and loved being a journalist. News was his life,” she said.

After retiring from WTVJ, Seamans, a Pinecrest resident, found a second career in modeling and acting. His wife recalled to the Herald a bus ad with his image for “Modeling for Simply Healthcare.”

Seamans’ IMDB.com profile stated that he was usually cast as an “executive, high ranking military officer, government official, grandfather.” He had a few roles in TV shows such as “America’s Most Wanted” and the former Starz Miami series “Magic City” in 2013.

Seamans’ prostate cancer was in remission for about 17 years when it returned last year.

He is survived by his wife, three adult children and six grandchildren.